Football fans

So, its been quite some time now :)!

Well I did two football themed cakes over the weekend and thought I would share with you all.  These two teams are neither here nor there for me so far as football is concerned :) but I loved both cakes.  I am not crazy about football but would watch if I have to.  Which team do you support?

Perfume cake

When you are requested to make a novelty cake, you are either apprehensive or excited or both.  In this instance I was excited and as I started working on it, then I became apprehensive, then excited again when it was all done :). This cake looks simple but took a lot of effort and also tasked me to dig further into my inner being :) for solutions.  It made all concerned very happy.

Errm, what do I call this cake? Ok, 70th Birthday Cake :)

Made this cake within a very limited time frame but am happy it came out well and everyone loved it. It was for a 70th birthday celebration for a lovely woman.

Celebration cake

Last week I had the pleasure of making a cake for a wonderful lady in my office.  She had achieved the ultimate position and we the ladies wanted to honour her. I had been dying to do a copy of Sugarshack's handbag with champagne cake and also use the alligator skin impression mat by Elisa Straus so I decided this was the perfect opportunity :).  I was happy with the way it turned out and more importantly the recipient was overjoyed with the look and taste of the cake.

Stack of Polo shirts cake

So a customer of mine brought me a picture of a cake she found on the internet which was a stack of polo shirts and asked me to do a smaller version of it.  I was more than happy to oblige so here is my version.  The original was made by Sweet Love Bakes.

How to make fondant - my way

In my side of the world ready made fondant is very hard to come by and marshmallows are very pricey so not a good alternative for making fondant.  This recipe was passed to me by one of my cake instructors and after making a few changes in the method, I am sharing it with you now. This is my way of preparing fondant and over time I have mastered the method and it works very fine for me.  It requires your absolute attention during preparation and can be a bit tedious but worth the effort. When the weather is very humid I increase the gelatine by an extra teaspoon to get a firmer consistency.  I advice you read through carefully before commencing.  This recipe should yield enough to cover 10" and 8" cakes.

Ingredients 

List A

• 1lb caster sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 oz liquid glucose
• 30ml or 2tbs glycerine
• 1 1/2tsp cream of tartar

 List B

•  2/3 cup water
• 2 1/2 sachets gelatine
• 4 oz white fat or cooking oil
• 4 1/2lb icing sugar
• 1 tsp flavouring 

Directions

Step A and Step B must be done concurrently.

Step A: Combine all items in List A in a saucepan and cook on medium heat.  Make sure there are no sugar particles on the sides of the saucepan or else it will caramelize and change the colour of the fondant.  To prevent that I use a damp towel to wipe the sides of the saucepan.  

Let it boil to soft ball stage then turn of the heat.

If it goes beyond this stage your fondant will not turn out white.

Step B: Pour the icing sugar on to a clean table and create a well in the middle. 

Measure the water and place in a bowl.  Sprinkle the gelatin on top and leave for about 5 mins to bloom (the gelatin will absorb all the water).  Add the white fat or cooking oil and mix thoroughly

Once the boiling sugar mix reaches soft ball stage turn off the heat and pour in the gelatin mix.  Stir quickly since this will foam.  

Place the hot sauce in a bowl of water and continue stirring to bring the temperature down.  If you stop stirring the consistency will change and your fondant will not be elastic.

Keep stirring till it is warm to touch.  To check this, place your finger in the mixture and count to 10.  If you are able to stand the heat then its ready :) (sorry, I never used a thermometer so can't give you an accurate measure). At this stage you can add any colour or flavour you desire.

Pour IMMEDIATELY into the icing sugar and mix in.

Kneed just enough to combine and bag them whiles still slightly warm. If you are too slow at this stage it will dry up making it very difficult to combine. If it turns out really dry just sprinkle a few drops of water on it and pack together as much as possible.  Put in the freezer overnight and it's ready to use.

White and silver wedding cake

This cake is one that am very proud off.  It was fairly straight forward to make but required attention to detail.  It had to be set up on site because of the weight.  I had someone else go do it because I needed to be somewhere else.  I was just blown by the picture when I finally got to see it. The coloured bits on it is not part of the design, its confetti which was sprayed after the cake was cut by the couple.